Band Saw, 1946
Edwin painted Band Saw in 1946, at the start of the most productive period of his artistic career. His "flirtation with Surrealism" in 1939-1940 greatly liberated him as an artist, but it coincided with the start of the war. Edwin was a conscientious objector. He was sent away from Edinburgh to work in wartime hospitals and had to give up his studio. He also suffered illness that led to a gall bladder operation that nearly killed him.
During 1944 he was transferred to work in the Royal Edinburgh Hospital and was able to move back into his studio. It must have been an extremely disruptive and unsettling time, surviving a serious illness, conscription and CO tribunal, then relief at the end of war. Maybe this acted as a catalyst for Edwin's most innovative and prolific period in the immediate post-war years.
During 1944 he was transferred to work in the Royal Edinburgh Hospital and was able to move back into his studio. It must have been an extremely disruptive and unsettling time, surviving a serious illness, conscription and CO tribunal, then relief at the end of war. Maybe this acted as a catalyst for Edwin's most innovative and prolific period in the immediate post-war years.